


The Practice Date

by DeceitfulHonesty



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Accidental Dating, F/F, Fake Dating, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Practice dating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-06
Updated: 2016-01-06
Packaged: 2018-05-12 04:21:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5652250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeceitfulHonesty/pseuds/DeceitfulHonesty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jemma gets roped into going on a blind date, but is notoriously terrible at dating. Thankfully, her friend, Daisy, graciously agrees (offers) to take Jemma on a date to practice. </p><p>Written for the prompt "Daisy teaches Jemma how to date - accidental/on-purpose dating"</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Practice Date

“‘Sup, Jemma?”

  
Jemma lurched at the voice coming from behind her and managed to knock over one of her vials. She was already jittery. Daisy sneaking up on her was not helping at all.

  
“Wow. Jumpy much?” Daisy asks.

  
“Just a bit anxious, that’s all,” Jemma replied, attempting to clean up the spill. Luckily it was nothing corrosive or toxic. Her boss would have her head for that, “What brings you to the office today?”

  
Daisy consulted for Jemma’s company whenever they had security issues. She had essentially built the security protocols for the entire company, so any time they had an issue, Daisy was called in to fix it. Thankfully, Jemma had met Daisy through a mutual friend when they had the opening and recommended her for the position. Jemma definitely didn’t mind the occasional visits from Daisy the recommendation led to and eventually, Daisy became one of her best friends.

  
“Just wanted to say hi before I went on a lunch run. What’s got you so amped up?” Daisy asked, genuine concern lacing her voice.

  
Jemma groaned, “I have a date.”

  
“Oh. With who?”

  
“I don’t know. It’s a blind date. One of my coworkers set me up with a friend,” Jemma replied.

  
“Well, that could be interesting,” Daisy suggested.

  
“Yes, I suppose, but I haven’t been on a date in ages and if memory serves, I’m rather awful at them,” Jemma confessed.

  
Daisy scoffed, “You can’t be _that_ bad. It’s just talking about yourself.”

  
“You seem to be forgetting about the Fitz Incident,” Jemma pointed out.

  
Daisy snapped her fingers as she remembered, “Oh yeah. When you two simultaneously lit two separate tables that were not yours on fire ten minutes into your date?”

  
Jemma just grimaced.

  
“Okay, that was one bad date. Maybe you just need practice?” Daisy suggested, “Here, pretend I’m your date.”

  
_Yeah, because I’ve never done that before_ , Jemma thought, “Uh...I….um.”

  
Daisy rolled her eyes, “Okay, I’ll start,” Daisy leaned on the corner of the table Jemma was working on and twirled a piece of hair between her fingers with her gaze fixed on Jemma, “So, how was work today? Do anything exciting?” she asked, batting her eyes.

  
Jemma’s brain short circuited, “It was great, I got to dissect a cat so I could run tests on the mutated parasite lodged in its small intestine,” she rambled.

  
Daisy’s wide-eyed stare told Jemma she already screwed up.

  
“Wow. Uh, I wouldn’t lead with dissection. Or parasites,” she suggested.

  
Jemma buried her face in her hands, “Ugh. I know I just...I just get so nervous, especially around new people. I can’t think straight.”

  
“When did you say your date was?” Daisy asked.

  
“Tomorrow evening.”

  
“Perfect. We’re going on a date tonight,” Daisy announced.

  
Jemma swore her brain wasn’t going to resume its normal functions at any point today, “I’m sorry, what?”

  
“We’re going out. We can do a practice-date to work on your...conversational skills. I know a great place we can go, we’ll meet there at, let’s say 7, and after a little bit of my awesome coaching skills, you’ll be ready to nail your date. Maybe in more ways than one,” Daisy said with a wink.

  
“Oh, don’t be lewd,” Jemma replied, swatting Daisy in the shoulder, “But if you think it’ll help, sure.”

  
“Great, I’ll text you the address,” Daisy grinned. She hopped up and made her way out of the lab and threw a “See you tonight!” over her shoulder.

  
Jemma only managed a feeble wave at Daisy’s retreating form. Now, she not only had one date to worry about, she had a date with one of her best friends. There was no way her work was getting done today.

 

* * *

  
Jemma got to the restaurant half an hour before she was supposed to meet Daisy. She told herself it was because she didn’t want to be late, but she really just couldn’t pace around her apartment anymore. She was pretty sure she had worn a hole into the carpet. The restaurant ended up being only a short walk from her place so she still had plenty of time to kill.

  
Jemma was shown to a table and ordered a bottle of wine while she waited. Her instinct was to text Daisy while she was stressing about something, but given that Daisy was the one she was waiting on, Jemma assumed it would just make her take longer.

  
Jemma was picking the frayed edges of her napkin when she finally (well, right on time, Jemma just happened to be very early) saw Daisy through the crowd of the restaurant and her jaw dropped.

  
Daisy rarely wore anything outside of loose fitting button-ups and jeans, since being a consultant had a very casual dress code, but tonight she strutted across the restaurant in sky-high heels and the tightest-fitting, lowest-cut black dress Jemma had ever seen on anyone. Jemma was positive Daisy said something to her when she got to the table but Jemma was a bit distracted by….well, a couple of things.

  
“Huh?” Jemma said, intelligently.

  
“I said, ‘this is the part where you tell me I look great,’” Daisy replied.

  
Jemma blushed, “I, uh. I mean—you do, but, I...this is a practice date right?”

  
Daisy smirked, “I’m testing a thing a read about online. It’s called exposure therapy. People use it to get over phobias, apparently, so I figured it would work for dates as well. Since I highly doubt your date will look anywhere near as distracting as I do, you should be able to get through anything after tonight. Now, for the rest of the night, I’m your mystery date.”

  
Jemma was finding it very difficult to look at Daisy’s eyes as she leaned on the table, “Okay. Good—Good idea. Let’s begin our conversation,” Jemma fidgeted in her purse and pulled out a small stack of notecards.

  
“Uh, Jemma. What are those?” Daisy asked.

  
“Possible topics of conversation?”

  
Daisy snatched the cards out of her hand and started flipping through them, “Electricity, penguins, dendrotoxin, gravity, aaaand the rest of these are blank.”

  
“I couldn’t think of anything else to talk about,” Jemma sheepishly admitted.

  
Daisy sighed dramatically, “Okay, new strategy. Go back to the front, take a deep breath, and then come back to the table. When you get back, I’m not Daisy, I’m your date. Let’s call him Grant.”

  
“What? Why—”

  
“Just trust me,” Daisy insisted. Jemma did as instructed and walked up to the lobby of the restaurant. She felt ridiculous wandering through the restaurant, but if this would ease her date-anxiety, she would do it. She took a few deep breaths (more than one couldn’t hurt, right?) and headed back to the table. She plastered a smile on her face as she slid back into her seat, ready to start fresh, only to be leveled with a glare from Daisy.

  
“Did I—,” Jemma started.

  
“You’re late,” Daisy snapped.

  
“What? I just—,”

  
“You’re twenty minutes late. I almost left. I hope you’re paying for dinner.”

  
Jemma just stared, dumbfounded.

  
“Also, I was hungry so I already ordered. I hope you like veal,” Daisy continued, leaning her head on one arm propped up on the table and looking quite bored.

  
“God no, I—”

  
“Whatever, I’ll eat yours, too. So you got a job or anything?”

  
“Yes, I have a job,” Jemma snapped. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Jemma knew she was still talking to Daisy, but this ‘Grant’ that she was pretending to be was taking over and really pissing her off, “I’m a biochemist. I work at—”

  
“Ring ring,” Daisy chirped, reaching for her phone. She held up a finger to silence Jemma. Daisy propped her feet up on the table as she talked, ignoring the disapproving looks of the restaurant patrons around them. Despite the emotional trauma she was enduring, Jemma couldn’t help be a bit distracted by the way Daisy’s dress was riding up to pay anything else much mind either.

  
“What’s up? No, I’m not doing anything important. Just out on a date with some chick…I don’t know, I’ll ask,” Daisy held the phone away from her ear and redirected her attention to Jemma, “Would you be up for a threesome with me and my wife?”

  
Jemma could feel her face flush as she started sputtering out nonsense. The rational part of her brain was completely absent this evening, apparently. Jemma blamed Daisy’s tiny dress. And the whole ‘date’ atmosphere. And whoever ‘Grant’ was.

  
Somewhere in Jemma’s non-functioning mind, she decided wine would be a good option, but her motor skills were on holiday with her intelligence, apparently, and she ended up knocking her glass over, dousing the table in red. Jemma was rather certain she was hyperventilating at this point.

  
Suddenly, she felt hands on her face and her eyes met familiar brown ones.

  
“Whoa, Jemma, breath. Relax, it’s just me,” Daisy soothed.

  
Jemma took a deep breath. Daisy’s eyes were still searching her face, looking for some evidence that Jemma was going to start panicking again. Once she was certain she was calm, Daisy slid back into her seat and started dabbing up the spilled wine with her napkin.  
“Oh my god, I’m hopeless,” Jemma lamented, burying her face in her hands.

  
“Well, I can understand the Fitz Incident at little better now,” Daisy teased. Jemma shot her a glare, but understood her point, “We probably shouldn’t have jumped intothe absolute worst case scenario first. Exposure therapy didn’t work as well as predicted. Oh, well. Experiment failed.” Daisy shrugged.

  
“An experiment is never ‘failed.’ All results yield information about the scenario, even if they don’t fit into the hypothesis,” Jemma stated.

  
“There’s the Jemma Simmons I know and love,” Daisy announced with a smirk, “Even if that’s the case, let’s not try to repeat that again tonight. I have a feeling we might get kicked out if we break anything else.”

  
“Good idea.”

  
Daisy finished blotting up the wine and putting the table back in order before reaching for the menus, “Alright then, back to normal. Fake Date simulation over. Now we can order food, right?”

  
Jemma chuckled, “Of course.”

  
“Just for the record, that ‘Grant’ date scenario is totally possible. I’ve been on that date,” Daisy remarked.

  
Jemma gasped, “No.”

  
“Yes. But, I punched the guy in the face at the end, so I’m glad you didn’t get to that point.”

 

* * *

  
The rest of the evening went far more smoothly. After realizing that improvisation was not Jemma’s strong suit, Daisy made it her mission to prepare her for every possible scenario she might encounter. Jemma came up with all the scenarios and Daisy would coach her through the best ways to respond (surprisingly, very few ended in sucker punching her date).

  
Once Jemma ran out of ideas, they lapsed into casual conversation. Daisy was just easy to be around. Typically, anyway. Jemma was still all too aware of the situation they were currently in and was doing her best to remember that this was just practice for her date tomorrow. Daisy had been very eager to take Jemma out to prepare, now that Jemma thought about it.

  
Daisy ended up covering the bill for dinner, despite Jemma’s protests. She cited ‘pain and suffering’ as a good excuse to have someone else pick it up for the night and Jemma finally acquiesced.

  
“Now, if your date isn’t a complete dick, they’ll offer to walk you home,” Daisy stated as they were leaving the restaurant.

  
“Okay, what if I don’t want them to?” Jemma asked.

  
“Then tell them.”

  
“What if they try to walk me home anyway?”

  
“Call the police? What kind of dates have you been going on?” Daisy asked.

  
“Rarely any good ones,” Jemma replied. She waited a beat before snapping, “Well? Are you going to be a ‘complete dick’ or are you going to offer to walk me home?”

  
Daisy looked stunned by her sudden sass, “I was just about to.”

  
“Sure you were. Well, let’s go. It’s starting to get chilly and I still have more questions.”

  
Daisy chuckled and picked up her pace to match Jemma.

  
“Alright, what do you still have questions about?” Daisy asked.

  
“Saying goodnight?”

  
Daisy nodded, “That is a very important part of the date. Rule number 1: don’t invite someone in unless you want to have sex with them.”

  
“Um...should I?” Jemma tentatively asked.

  
Daisy shrugged, “That’s entirely your call. Only if the date went really really well would you invite someone in on the first date. Unless you’re into one night stands.”

  
Jemma wrinkled her nose at the last statement. Daisy just chuckled.

  
“Yeah, I didn’t think so.”

  
“So, hypothetically, what would I say if I did want to invite someone in?” Jemma wondered.

  
“Probably something like,” Daisy spun around to face Jemma and spoke in a poor imitation of Jemma’s accent, “Would you like to come in for coffee or something?”

  
Jemma nearly ran into her because she hadn’t realized Daisy had stopped walking. Suddenly, she was standing far too close and Daisy’s eyes were boring into her own while Jemma’s mind raced with the possible implications of that statement.

  
“Awful accent,” Jemma muttered to break the spell. Daisy laughed and turned back around. Jemma hadn’t realized they were standing in her building already. Daisy pushed the elevator button and swept her hands out in front of her in an ‘after you’ gesture when the doors finally opened. They settled into comfortable silence the whole ride up and until they made it to Jemma’s door.

  
“This is me,” Jemma stated.

  
“I can see that,” Daisy teased.

  
Jemma bit her lip in thought, “So, let’s say the date was enjoyable, but I don’t want to send the wrong message by inviting them in. What do I do?”

  
“I guess, just give them a goodnight kiss and tell them you’ll call them,” Daisy advised.

  
“Okay, but, um...how?”

  
“Have you seriously never kissed someone?” Daisy asked incredulously.

  
“Of course I have, but we’ve established that dating scenarios are far too stress inducing for me to do anything properly,” Jemma retorted.

  
Daisy rolled her eyes, “Okay, I’ll walk you through it. Keep eye contact with the person, so they know you’re interested and not just blowing them off. Then, get in their personal space a bit,” Daisy stepped into Jemma’s space to illustrate her statement, “Then say something like, ‘I had a really good time tonight. We should do this again.’ Even though you’re a giant dork and threw wine at me.”

  
“Hey!”

  
“Okay, leave out that last part,” Daisy muttered, “Then just...go for it. Once it feels right.”

  
Jemma felt Daisy’s hand slide onto her waist. This was still just practice right? Jemma almost didn’t want it to be. Her eyes unconsciously flicked to Daisy’s lips which were much closer than Jemma had anticipated. Scratch that, Jemma definitely didn’t want this to be just practice.

  
A sudden wave of courage swept over her and Jemma grabbed Daisy by the back of the neck and pulled her down for a rough kiss. Daisy hummed a content noise against Jemma’s lips and tightened her grip on Jemma’s waist pulling her flush against her own body. A tiny voice in the back of Jemma’s mind cheered as she dug her hands into Daisy’s hair and deepened the kiss.

  
Far too soon, they had to pull back for air. The last thing Jemma wanted to do right now was move, so they remained locked together while they tried to catch their breath. The only sound in the hallway was the sound of their heavy breathing. Jemma’s eyes shifted up to Daisy’s again. Her pupils were dilated and her cheeks were flushed. Jemma was sure she was in a similar state. She felt Daisy’s fingers tighten slightly, gripping the fabric of Jemma’s dress a bit tighter.

  
“So…” Jemma broke the silence.

  
“Yeah?” Daisy whispered.

  
“Would you like to come in for coffee or something?”

**Author's Note:**

> Oh my god this was fun. Also I couldn't help but think of the Parks and Rec scene where Ann takes Leslie on a practice date, so this is influenced by that. Well, to a certain point anyway.  
> Check out my writing tumblr sad-trash-writing!


End file.
